Reality Recap: Bethenny Frankel's comeback for Gia Giudice and more

Lisa Vanderpump is under fire after Ally Lewber revealed that she pushed her to stay with James Kennedy after the domestic violence incident. James’ other ex, Kristen Doute, is backing Ally up saying her claims don’t come as a surprise. Yikes. Andy Cohen f inally called Kyle Richards out over her unwillingness to speak on her relationship with Morgan Wade. Despite raking in millions from OnlyFans, Sami Sheen’s car has been repossessed.

And speaking of millions, Bethenny Frankel had quite the comeback for Gia Giudice after speaking out about her mom’s financial woes.

Paige’s indecision grows on Summer House

This week on Summer House, we see Paige’s descent into indecision about her future with Craig deepen. During a conversation with Ciara (after the hilarious fall from the hammock), she expressed feeling anxious as her multi-city Giggly Squad tour approached. We know that Craig had been fighting hard to stay centrestage in her life as the tour approached despite her repeatedly asking him for grace, space and patience. She told Ciara that she just didn’t feel like he was being supportive.

“I don’t want him stealing the shine from your tour and sometimes the shit that he says or refuses to acknowledge is giving like, hater boyfriend energy,” Ciara responded to Paige’s concerns.

The “hater boyfriend energy” Ciara is referring to is something we continue to revisit, particularly in the lives of millennial women who are thriving in their careers, prompting a deep insecurity in their male partners. The insecurity typically stems from them not feeling good enough and as if they might lose their girlfriends to other men as they gain visibility, notoriety and perhaps most importantly, money.

So this week, with Paige saying out loud that she is the breadwinner in their relationship, so it makes the most sense for Craig to move to New York to be with her, it adds even more nuance to the reason they didn’t work out.

My hot take is that Craig’s true intent behind not being the most supportive and subtly trying to get Paige to scale back her career a bit was not only so that she could focus more on him but so that they would also be on a more even playing field financially. It’s no secret that it brings men great discomfort to earn less than their partners, and while I don’t doubt that he did actually just want more attention, I absolutely think that for a southern man like him, he was not okay with her out-earning him.

The crazy thing about hater boyfriends like Craig and Joe Bradley from Southern Hospitality is that their girlfriends don’t actually give a sh-t that they make less than them. What they’re asking for in both scenarios is more space to tend to their careers without having to feel bad about it. For Paige and Maddi Reece, Joe’s girlfriend and a killer DJ, both women are pursuing their passions, the fact that they make a killing doing what they love is just an added bonus.

It's very much a case of the tighter you squeeze, the less you have. Because Paige, Maddi, and just about every other woman in their ever so common situation are really just looking for a soft place to land after a hard day’s work. Not to have to coddle their hater boyfriends through their hating ass energy.

Shady, bad behaving bosun on Below Deck raises questions about consent

Now you know I only write about Below Deck when something big happens. And for me to be writing about this show on a week where two Real Housewives franchises are pretty much up in flames indicates we are long overdue for a discussion about our offshore cast.

For starters, the dynamic on the boat – sorry, luxurious super yacht – is super messed up this season. The deck crew is in shambles, much thanks to a spineless leader named Wihan who lacks accountability and is mostly focused on slowly working his way through romantic relations with just about every woman on staff this season. And the interior crew isn’t faring much better since most of the work they do hinges on the productivity and support of the deck crew.

While Wihan has been a bit of a wi-hoe this season, Johnny, on the other hand, has really fallen hard for castmate Alesia, and the two have been exchanging kisses in secret whenever they pass by each other in the galley. Adorable, truly.

But this week, after a drunken night out, Alesia stumbles around the boat looking for Johnny, entering into the room he shares with Wihan. In the dark, she calls for Johnny and Wihan shuffles around as she unknowingly climbs into the wrong bed, making room for her. She starts telling Wihan, assuming she’s talking to Johnny, about all the drama going on with Wihan, and he shows affection to her. So despite knowing that it was Johnny she was looking for, Wihan allowed Alesia into his bed, basically pretending to be Johnny. Like, what a real-life catfish.

In perfect timing, Johnny enters into his room, finds the two in bed and naturally, blows a gasket, later punching a wall during his rage. While Alesia clues into what has happened and tries explaining that she thought she was in bed with him, Wihan, on the otherhand, plays dumb, pretending to not understand the issue. And for all Johnny knows, the two are in a consensual affair behind his back.

The reason I use the word consensual is because I don’t think this was consensual at all. I think Wihan’s intentions were truly sinister and he was being perverted and opportunistic. This kind of misleading is especially predatory and deviant, and we’ve seen the dangers of these lines being crossed in the past, which I’ve written about here. I’m hoping we see some serious consequences for Wihan in the next episode, because as a staff member, a human being, and particularly as a bosun, this behaviour is completely unacceptable.

Real Housewives of Atlanta fallout continues

In a YouTube video posted this week, Porsha is sharing her thoughts on the debacle over Kenya sharing explicit images of her at the grand opening of her hair spa. During the recording, she made a shocking revelation that she felt one of the housewives who is still on the show was the person who gave this information to Kenya:

“One of these Housewives who is still on the show is the one who gave Kenya a big part of that nude information. Who did all this research? Who did it besides the housewife who gave you the footage? It was a lot.”

Porsha said she still has questions, to this day, about the incident, including:

“What printing company printed this out?”

Porsha posing this question is precisely what makes her good TV. Her lack of self-awareness and ability to read the room renders her so aloof that you have no choice but to be entertained by it. And though it may not sound like a serious question, it’s actually a very fair question to ask – because who would want to be associated with this kind of mess?

Earlier this week, Kenya reshared this AI-generated art that read #Justice4Kenya and again, I don’t want to take away from the solemnity of the situation but hot damn this photo is doing a lot.